Fifi

Dog for Adoption

Fifi came to us from a stray pound, where, like many other dogs, her life had been at risk simply because of overcrowding. A young female boxer cross, she was placed in kennels for initial assessment and found to be a lovely, well-adjusted, happy little girl who thankfully coped well with being in kennels (as you know, many boxers don’t do so well). After an application to foster with a view to adopt, kennels and Joey’s Legacy behavioural assessments and a successful meet and greet with the potential foster family and resident dog, Fifi went off to her foster home in December. She was spayed and recovered in her foster home. She settled in incredibly well and everyone in the home was delighted with how quickly she and the resident dog bonded. Unfortunately, less than two weeks into the placement, an incident occurred which is said to have stemmed from a fight between the two dogs over some food. The incident resulted in an injury being sustained by an adult in the home, with that injury said to have been caused by Fifi. We don’t know the exact circumstances of the accident as the only witness was the individual who was injured. Unfortunately we will never know exactly what happened as Police evidence revealed several different accounts of the circumstances. Both dogs from the location were seized under the Dangerous Dogs Act and examined by vets (the police were informed of the incident by the ambulance service). Merseyside Police contacted us at Christmas to confirm that the resident dog would be returned to the owner and that their recommendation to the Court was that Fifi be ordered to be destroyed, and our founder Nicky Heeley prosecuted under Section 4 of the Dangerous Dogs Act for allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control. Our trustees and volunteers, having had personal experience of Fifi’s presentation and behaviour, were clear that this incident was nothing more than a horrible accident and that Fifi was never a dangerous dog; she was a dog who had behaved as most dogs can reasonably be expected to behave in a given situation. We therefore refused to sign Fifi’s death warrant, and so the fight to save her life for a second time began. After many months of gathering information and formulating legal submissions and evidence, which included glowing reports concerning Fifi’s temperament from a number of professionals, support from our friends at Carla Lane Animals in Need (with particular thanks, as always, to Fran Ellis for her valuable input), unquestioning financial and moral support from our Joey’s family, tears and sleepless nights for our trustees and, most of all, the priceless legal representation, expertise, desire for justice and love for dogs for which James Parry and the PWL team are famous, today we were finally vindicated. We managed to convince the Court that Fifi does not – and never did – deserve to die. She will live the rest of her life with some simple conditions which must be met so that she, and we, can fulfil the Court’s order. Fifi must always wear a muzzle and lead in public, this means when travelling in the car too. To avoid anything like this EVER happening again, Fifi will only be rehomed to a home with no other dogs, no children and no cats or small animals, despite her good nature with all people and other dogs we will not put her in a position where there is the possibility of there being any conflict between dogs.

The emotional toll of this process has been significant, but letting Fifi be sentenced to death when she had simply been a victim of circumstance herself was never an option. We never saw ourselves facing this battle, but as an organisation we will always strive to do what is right by our own dogs, and dogs generally. When a dog becomes a Joey’s dog, we promise we will keep them safe for life. Fifi is no exception.

Some other dogs at this rescue on this website:

Boxer Rescue Liverpool are a small rescue organisation dedicated to helping boxers in need. Although primarily a boxer rescue, they also help a small amount of bulldog type breeds and pugs. This includes, English bulldogs, French bulldogs, Dorset bulldogs, Old Tyme bulldogs (and other similar bulldogs) and also pugs. Boxer Rescue Liverpool have a no destruction policy and never put a healthy dog to sleep. They are run entirely by volunteers who use their spare time to help boxers in need.